Titans starstruck on Hall of Fame visit

CANTON, Ohio— The Titans were on the other side of the video cameras Saturday. The team strolled through the Pro Football Hall of Fame taking pictures and posing in front of the busts of NFL immortals.

“It was cool. Every player should get an opportunity to check out the Hall of Fame,” linebacker Keith Bulluck said Sunday morning. “It is pretty much everything I expected it to be and more.”

The Titans play the Bills in the Hall of Fame game Sunday night here at Fawcett Stadium, next door to the Hall. On Saturday, Titans Coach Jeff Fisher took the team inside the Hall for a one-hour tour. The players were welcomed in by Titans owner Bud Adams.

Then they let their imaginations run wild as they looked at the exhibits, the busts, and learned more about the history of the game.

“It’s football royalty and neat to experience it,” quarterback Kerry Collins said. “I enjoyed the busts, seeing the different guys. I have been around a few years so I started looking for guys I played against.”

Titans General Manager Mike Reinfeldt did the same. An All-Pro safety who played nine seasons with the Raiders and Oilers, Reinfeldt said 14 players he played with are in the Hall of Fame.

Many of the offensive linemen went to find the bust of Mike Munchak, the long-time Oiler offensive lineman who’s now Titans offensive line coach. He was inducted in 2001. They also were interested in seeing the bust of another former Oiler/Titan — Bruce Matthews.

Defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch spent time looking at all the information about former Steelers defensive lineman Mean “Joe” Green, his former position coach with the Cardinals. Center Kevin Mawae took a picture of the Lombardi Trophy.

Bulluck mentioned an exhibit with former NFL running backs Eric Dickerson and O.J. Simpson, members of the 2,000-yard club, along with an exhibit about former Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino.

“And just to see the old equipment they used to use back in the day. It shows how small those guys were,” Bulluck said. “Their jerseys looked like sweaters my 14-year-old nephew could wear.”

“It gives all the players a great perspective of the game,” Reinfeldt said. “Just to see the guys who have gone before you.”

Bulluck, who wore a Walter Payton throwback jersey through the Hall — he switched out of a Steve McNair Oilers uniform because Vince Young was wearing the same one — said the trip was humbling experience.

“Actually being in there made me feel like I have more work to do,” Bulluck said. “Seeing all the people that are in there and the careers that they had, it just made me feel as if I had more work to do. … It’s somewhere I would like to be, but I have more work to do.”